Today we went horse riding. It was a beautiful day for it, nice and sunny, not too hot (but still easy to burn- well, for Cailín anyway) and a light breeze coming down from the mountain. My horse was called Q'uchoqu which roughly translates as "Sure it's a beautiful day, jump on my back and we'll go for a wee ride." Cailíns horse was called Q'uchoqa which roughly translates as "There's no friggin way that gringo bitch is getting on my back". So our memories of this particular day differ quite substantially.

We trekked over the mountain just north of Cusco, with beautiful views all round. I really felt like a cowboy (especially wearing my hat), and just loved sauntering around the middle of no-where on the back of this horse. Being in the middle of no-where, it was therefor understandable to come across a taxi parked in the middle of the trail blocking our way

. Why understandable? Because the taxi driver thought this would be the perfect place to bring a young lady for a bit of "how's your father". His embarrasment was heightened by the fact that instead of playing it cool, he ran round to the back of the car (leaving the afore mentioned young women in the passenger seat with her top unbuttoned) and pretended to fix his rear bumper which had sudddenly developed a problem of major importance.

Hola amigo´s tis meself miss Hardy and my version of the "Day Cailin nearly died" are completely different!! First of all I´m not exactly horse orientated so confidence levels were not running high already, but as I was mounting (yes thats the correct terminology!) my horse - which I most definately belive was one the Apocolypse herd in a pst life - the horse man - God I sound like a Jane Austen novel there - says to me - "You horse slow and sometime crazeeeee" - Not exactly the best way to calm me aul nerves!

So things got off to an alright start trotting along until we came to the parked car as mentioned above(which I cannot elaborate on as my wee sis may be reading this but email me if you want the full story)and my horse goes all weird and wont walk and is all jittery so the horse man had to start pulling him along after his horse with the rein - so now the poor beast who not only didnt want to carry me was being forced along by the teeth - nightmare

. I could sense the animal hated me! Anyway the expedition (is that too strong a word??) got under way and I started to relax - well as much as a GIRL can on a horse - belive me how lady Guidivere did it is beyond me! We visited a few ruins and the afternoon was sailing along better than my nightmares had predicted - until that is we hit the cliff sides and started to go downhill - nightmare!! My horse kept slipping and i was trying my hardest not to scream like a bitch but I was terrified - sad I know but I kept thinking `Gone with the Wind - Madonna - Red-Rum` and was slipping precariously too far forward on my saddle to be on a cliff edge. Although I must say in my terrified state Garl was a wealth of support and helpfulness by LAUGHING! When we finally stopped and got off my face was tripping me so we spent a lovely hour walking (on solid ground!) back to the beginning. Never EVER again! Me and horses just dont mix!